Gated Communities Are Antithetical To The Raw Nature Of The Human Spirit
How some gated community rules almost border on the authoritarian and fascist
Introduction
There have been a proliferation of gated communities in India. An increasing number of people are acquiring cosmopolitan tastes for the finer things in life and want to bathe their families in the comfort and luxury they never felt growing up. This includes facilities like power backup, CCTV cameras, and 24/7 security for standard apartments and additional features like swimming pools, gymnasiums, clubhouses, and housekeeping staff for those in the super luxury category.
However, in the past few years there have been numerous incidents of fights and arguments erupting because one set of residents had a difference of opinion with another. Or the sheer high-handedness displayed by certain senior members of resident welfare associations adhering to certain ways of political correctness in their daily life where they feel the need to impose that way of life on other residents.
Case in point: Modern day working women not allowed to return home late at night or outrightly refused from being let out a house for rent at the behest of other residents of a gated community.
First instance of rule enforcement
In the early days as a resident of my gated community apartment, since I was very young and wasn’t aware of the rigid rules that this place came with, I once brought a couple of my classmates to hang out at my apartment clubhouse. We were tired after group studies all day at my house and wanted to let off some steam by indulging in a light game of table tennis. I started by showing them around the apartment and all its facilities after which we settled down for the game in the clubhouse. There was no one else around us or outside waiting for a chance to play. It was just the three of us.
Barely a day or two later, pop came a message on the owners association email group (There was no Whatsapp at the time):
“The clubhouse is only meant for residents and visitors are not allowed to use any of the facilities provided.” , bleated out the message.
I had initially taken the rules for granted and assumed that no one would notice — or even more foolishly — that they would let it slide. Big mistake! We were just college kids and didn’t know that the rules were so rigid and set in stone.So now, what was I supposed to do? Intentionally make friends with someone residing inside the apartment just so I could play table tennis?
While gated apartments keep you safe from all the risks and dangers posed to you while living in an independent house outside, that safety net can feel a bit restrictive and suffocating at times.
Second Instance
The next incident that highlights the anti-social nature of gated apartment complexes came a few years later. Our apartment is surrounded by a bunch of independent houses around it and the kids of those houses were friends with the kids from our apartment. Sometimes, a few of them would jump over the apartment fence to join the resident kids in a game of football or cricket. No one had raised any objections to it and this went on for quite a while.
However, my mom being the president of the residents association at the time, said that it was something that had gone on for far too long and had to be nipped in the bud. I, on the other hand was pretty cool about it since it was just a bunch of kids wanting to have fun, and we weren’t losing anything as a community by allowing kids from outside to come here and play. But rules were rules.
My mom said that since they (the rest of the apartment residents) had raised objection towards me bringing my college mates to the apartment clubhouse a few years ago, so should they be dealt with in the very same way. The rules apply to everyone whether they’re adults or kids. When the rules apply to only one set of people and not the others, it ends up becoming highly discriminatory in nature. And hence, innocent school going kids had to pay the price just because a few adults felt adhering to the rules took higher precedence over allowing their friend from the adjacent house to hop over for a game of cricket every day.
If you lived outside a gated community, you would have no problem with kids from the adjacent street coming over to your street to join your kids in a game of football. But since you now own this “street”, you feel entitled to the space and hence have to enforce ridiculous rules to keep non-residents out, most of which only boost your ego and sense of ownership over the property.
They’re just kids! Who cares if they jump the fence to join the apartment kids for a game of cricket for about an hour or two?
This is the exact reason for my pungent title. Gated communities don’t realize how they stiffle the human spirit by conjuring up such ridiculous rules that are against the serendipitous and random nature of human beings.
Everyone in a gated community is constantly trying to one-up each other by picking fights for extremely flimsy and stupid reasons over and over again. My mum, being the person she is, would have never made an issue out of such a silly thing in the first place. But because the rest of the owners felt the need to call me out when I brought my friends over, she had to make sure that there was no discrimation, and that the rules were uniformly enforced across the board.
Third instance
The third instance was when a snake was spotted in the garden one monsoon taking refuge from the rain in one of the thick bushy shrubs. Some parents were paranoid that their kids might get bitten while playing outside, and immediately called for the removal of the shrubs.
Needless to say, factions were formed once again, those for and against the deforestation of that particular section of landscaping; trees and shrubs which significantly added aesthetic value to the apartment, drastically reduced surface temperatures, helped sequester carbon from the air and provided shade and a safe sanctuary for birds, reptiles, and insects from the elements. Many residents had admired and developed a connection towards the verdant shrubs and trees over the years, the sanctuary it had created for birds and insects in the apartment, and the calm and tranquility it bestowed one with whenever they went for a stroll around the apartment. Research has proven that it benefits humans significantly when their living quarters are sufficiently filled with open green spaces. I myself had developed a fondness towards all the shrubs and trees planted all around the apartment because of how soothing and relaxing it felt once you entered the apartment from outside.
Needless to say, the parents won because no one wanted to have a snake bite on their hands to deal with after coming home from a hectic day at the office, especially when it involved kids. So off went the beautiful palm trees and a few shrubs. It’s just a barren corner in our apartment now with small grasses growing wild from the rainfed soil. Even our gardener has been instructed not to water that particular area of the landscaping to prevent the vegetation from growing all over again.
I’m not saying that the trees and shrubs shouldn’t have been cut off at the time to prevent snakes from slithering in there. I’m saying the issue could have been dealt with differently had we waited patiently and did a bit more research on potential solutions.
Surely deforestation couldn’t have been the only solution to the problem. Right?
One is always paranoid about just being themselves or sharing an opinion in a gated community because you never who’s going to take objection for what. Dog owners know this all too well. Thankfully, we’ve never had any instances of pet dogs biting people in lifts which is currently its own kind of mini epidemic in the country right now.
Such increased instances of irresponsibility and negligence on the part of dog owners make residents more cautious and paranoid about them than they usually are. I’ve heard several stories of residents waiting for pet owners to finish using lifts before summoning them to their floor again, or resorting to taking the stairs altogether when a pet owner and his/her pet are found present inside. Pet owners are viewed with a more suspicious eye these days when they make enquiries to rent apartments in gated communities. Many landlords clearly specify in their classifieds that they don’t allow tenants with pets for this reason alone.
There have been many other instances of housing societies being cruel and acting insensitively towards their residents and fellow human beings visiting from outside. So many of them have time and again appeared on the news for their elitist and discriminatory attitudes towards blue collar workers like some not allowing them to use the same lifts as residents, and others not allowing them to use lifts at all, forcing them to take the stairs as they perform physically and mentally demanding jobs at the same time. How cruel and inhumane!
All these rigid rules point to the antithetical nature of gated communities towards human beings and the raw nature of the human spirit.
People love having their friends over to engage in fun and frolic. Kids love pulling in their friends from outside for a game of cricket. Greenery is good for the human condition. Pets are good for the soul.
Final Thoughts
While not allowing kids from adjoining houses to hop in for some sport or disallowing visitors from using clubhouse facilities certainly pales in comparison to not allowing women into their own homes because they came home late at night or preventing delivery personnel from using lifts and accessing common areas, it doesn’t mean that they are logical, carefully considered, and within reason.
While there’s no denying that certain rules laid down by RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations) are in the best interest of the safety and security of its residents, there are so many others that are just a pointless exercise in one-upmanship and are more of a subjective nature than an objective one. We can easily get rid of such oppressive rules that serve no one and only boost the ego and the sense of pride apartment owners take in owning a piece of real estate.
Do you also live in a gated community? Have they ever tried to enforce ridiculous rules upon you, your visitors, gig workers, or any other resident before? How have you and your fellow residents dealt with such issues in the past? Do let me know in the comments bar to the side.
